Hi KingiFiddler,

Welcome to our Fishingreminder Forum. Looks like you and me have a lot in common :)
I've been using the FX4000 reels for many years and really like them. 
Especially for the value you get for your money.

A while back though I switched to the Penn Spinfisher Reels because of their water resistance.
Quite happy with them and they are really water tight, even when accidentally dunking them in salt water every now and then.

I have done a bit of live baiting too but predominantly fish with lures from the kayak.

Whereabouts in NZ are you fishing?

Hi KingiFiddler, welcome to Fishing Reminder.

I think it might have been me that wrote the article about the FX.

If you are after a cheap robust reel that you don't have to worry about. Then take a look at the Ix series. They have NO bearings... all brass bushes. https://www.bcf.com.au/p/shimano-ix-4000-spinning-reel/131129.html

I am pretty sure I have seen the Ix also sold as "FX" and "RX". They certainly are labelled as "R" for rear drag. I have a couple in size 2000 for catching live bait and the small table fish like bream and whiting. I also have a couple of 4000 and I can say they are a very capable little reel...The brass bushes are the real winner. It is a reel you can just leave in the boat and know it is ready to use next time.

But of course, if you want a reel that is very robust and doesn't care about sand, mud, dust or water, then you can't go past an Alvey.

I hear you regards social media !!

Cheers kingiFiddler, yeah Mangawhai is certainly not the best place to go fishing in July, haha. I know the area. Depending on the weather in July I might or might not head out one day. Will see. Perhaps I'll stick to some land-based fishing as I'm kinda enjoying this at the moment.

Hey itsa - I'm pretty sure that you have not written the article on the FX4000
https://www.fishingreminder.com/articles/42-fishing-articles/128-budget-spinning-reel-shimano-fx4000fb-review

This is definitely written with a German accent, LOL

Mark,

Are you travelling with your kayak?
We've a few small play yaks that are good for in-close missions and you are welcome to grab one of those if not bringing your yak.

Let's stay in touch and if all the stars line up, weather good, surf down, etc and a day or two available and you're keen for a fish, it sounds like a plan. No guarantees I can put you on any fish but will try.

Thank you for all that great info itsaboat.

Just one point to clarify - I don't cast, just slow troll or drift livies.
Will give that R40 rod a miss, probably buy their cheapest reel:
https://alvey.com.au/shop/40gdz/
and see if it fits any rod I have here or can find locally.

Cool - another neat Winter project to have some fun with. Looking forward to it. Will probably get absolutely smoked by the first big fish that strikes but I'm a stubborn @ss and will eventually get the hang of it or die trying.

Turns out there's a NZ agent - hooray.
But I've had a poor experience buying from them and they went on my boycott list a while back - boo.
That's Ok though, I'll order from the Alvey website directly - hooray.
But they wont sell to me in NZ - boo.
So I just ordered on the site, sending it to my sis in Aus - hooray.

Couldn't make up my mind between two reels so bought both. hopefully AusPost don't sting me too much to get it from Aus to here.

Thanks itsaboat. It'll be the same NZ retailer. Couldn't see a trolling reel on Alvey's website in my cheapskate price range but have noticed a few older models on trademe (our online auction site). I note also that without needing the sidecast feature, they sit a bit closer to the rod too, which is a good thing in my kayak slow trolling context.

As luck would have it, there was a used $30 Alvey rod and 'snapper' reel on trademe the other day. We're North of Auckland and the listing was in Wellington but a relly was flying down there next week so could pick it up for me. I snapped up the listing, fired off a few texts, and have just learned the ones in Wellington all have covid so the one up here that was flying down to visit isn't going there anymore. So, now I have a Alvey rod and reel stranded in Wellington. The best laid plans of mice and men turned upside down pretty quickly. Hopefully can get something sorted.

Another thought on these reels that just came to me (I'm a bit slow on the uptake sometimes), is they probably have enough line capacity to use mono rather than braid. That'll be cheaper in the long run and easier on my fingers too. I just got a heap of mono in from overseas to try. It's really cheap but supposed to be good quality, and I couldn't find it in the stores here. Tried it for the first time today and really like (although I'll need some time and a few more trips to see how well it holds up) it but I got absolutely smoked by a 15-20kg kingi. It was wise enough to realise I had manipulated it to run away from the rocks and once it realised that and did a 180, I couldn't get enough line back fast enough to stay over the top of it, so it dusted me in the bricks. Was a really nice fish too. I'm sure it smiled and waved as it flew just below my kayak.

Over the last few days I've been exchanging emails with Glenn Alvey. He mentioned I might notice the line recovery rate of the reels is the only downside and I had replied there's only been a few times when I've really needed a fast recovery. Nek minnit, today I'm reeling like a madman trying to recover line ASAP, but it still wasn't enough even on my geared reel, so if I have the same fight on an Alvey I'll have to find another tactic to outsmart the hoodlums here.

Believe it or not, Alvey still haven't sent the order. Since announcing their impending closure (remains to be seen), they are swamped and the lead time as of almost two weeks ago was about three weeks.

Meantime, the people with the used Alvey and rod in Wellington are coming up to Auckland in a few weeks and bringing it with them, so I'll meet them and collect it then.

Meantime, I spied this $10 Alvey on facebook two days ago and just collected it, so despite buying four Alveys in the last three or so weeks, this is the first one I have in my possession. I felt guilty buying it for $10 so offered him $15 and when I got there he had no change for a twenty, so the $10 Alvey cost $20. I figure I can only use one handle at a time so only having one is fine by me.



Hoping to get it wet sometime in the next week, if this crazy weather settles. Since about mid-Summer until now, I've not seen the weather so terrible for fishing in the decade or so we have been living in this location. Really has been exceptional, for all the wrong reasons.

Good to know, thanks itsaboat. Will get pics if can get anything worth photographing.
Took the reel apart last night. Not many parts, not much to go wrong.
Coupla questions for the panel if I may:

• There's room on the spindle thread for a few layers of drag washer/stainless steel washer combos for more drag. Is it worth a shot or is that just going to cause premature wear of the end of the brass bushing and bakerlight that seats on a small lip on the base of the spindle? *edit* Come to think of it, that's not going to work as there's really only one mating surface between the spinning and non-spinning parts, so adding more washers doesn't do anything.


• It's a 520 model and it seems like I'll struggle to adjust the star drag while a hoodlum is pulling string. Even with just the one handle (hmm, I wonder if it'll be a bit out of balance with just one), there's not much room to reach in there while that handle is spinning around, threatening to skin my knuckles. Any tricks to it?


• The line capacity is huge. As I'm not casting, is there any reason to fill the spool? I'm thinking as long as I've got enough line on there, leaving some extra room on the spool might help give me some wriggle room if I don't lay it back on the spool very well.


• The huge line capacity has got me thinking. Having done a bunch of trials this Summer between mono and fluoro leaders, I've settled on mono leaders because the strike rates of fluoro simply didn't justify the price of the stuff, for me. I've read it's best to use swivels to avoid line twist on the Alveys but I'm a fan of none usually, and just cutting the hook off and trailing the line behind me on the paddle home to get any line twist out. So, I'm thinking, why not just load the Alvey up with my mono leader line (50lb - in a kayak, that's the absolute most I ever want to be trying to bust off if the need arises) and snell straight to the hook. No braid, no leaders, no swivels, no knots anywhere other than the hook. Worth a crack?
  

Any help much appreciated. Will nut this out with trial and error eventually but any help avoiding mistakes is very welcome indeed.

P.S. Have changed its name to antiSlammer, because according to a mate with a Penn Slammer I've made a deal with the devil and am going to Hell for using an Alvey.
P.P.S. It cleaned up well, seems to fit on my cheap 5' kidstix rod named pinkFury nicely and sits in the rod holder with just 1cm clearance to the deck of my kayak. May have got lucky.

Awsome info, thanks very much itsaboat.

Regarding adjusting the drag. As a direct wind reel, hopefully at some stage that handle is going to be spinning a million revs a minute when a hoodlum hits and runs. Here's the general order I'm used to:

• drag set to zero/freespool (not even the clicker) and the line is held by my drop back clip when slow trolling a livie. The clip is set at just enough to hold the livie.


• hoodlum hits, clip releases, reel starts giving up line with the least possible resistance


• I asses which direction I want to persuade the still unspooked kingi to head and start paddling like a madman in the opposite direction


• after a few seconds to a dozen seconds, depending on where I am and what else is going on, I'll stop padling just long enough to reach back to the rod still in the holder and turn up the drag a we bit


• return to paddling, then stop to up the drag a bit more


• rinse and repeat until the kingi has hit the afterburners in the desired direction or I run out of water between me and any hazards, being sure to not up the drag beyond a point where I can't lift the rod out of the holder


• Pull rod out, let fish pull the bow around and then crank the drag to the max I can get away with, sit back and enjoy the sleigh ride.

The issue I foresee is upping the drag while the rod is still in the holder and the spool and handle are spinning like mad. I've just had the Mrs walk off with line while I tried to tweak up the drag and my hand/knuckles got in the way of the handle a few times. Trying to reach back and do that drag adjustment while the rod is still in the holder (so I can keep paddling straight away), is gonna be painful, me thinks.

Plan B is to try and get more drop-back when the clip goes off, so I can leave the drag set to the max I can still get the rod out of the holder, and hope the kingi still gets enough line with the drop back to swallow bait and not get spooked and spit it. Even if it does get enough time, the drag being higher might not get the gentle roll of the circle hook I'm used to, so it may not set well, and my livie coming back stripped of scales and non-too-happy about it.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what I can and can't get away with.

*edit* Just had an idea. Might see if a short length of PVC pipe could fit over the star drag and stay there until I'm ready to pull rod out of the holder and play the fish. This way I can reach back, turn the pipe to tighten the drag a bit, without getting knuckles hammered.

Thanks itsaboat.
Found a SS washer almost the same size as the drag plate that's recessed into the spool. Cut a drag washer from carbontex to match and the reel has more than enough drag to get me in trouble now.
Cut a small section of PVC tube, heated the end and formed it over the star drag and left it to cool and shrink, then made a series of cuts from the end of the tube up to where the points on the star drag are, so I could get the PVC tube off but it goes on snugly enough that it won't fall off in use.
Took it out today for a quick shakedown session and everything seemed to work well, but the only thing interested in my livies were the birds so I didn't stay out long.
Tomorrow is slay day for anti-slammer :-)

*edit* slay day is delayed on account of too few fish and too many muppets (it's a holiday weekend and we are close to Auckland and a holiday destination, sadly). Caught three livies but the only one I could lose (and about 20m of line too) was to a pair of aforementioned muppets in a boat. On the plus side, their boat was a good 'huge fish' shakedown on the Alvey for me, which I failed, and have the blood blister under my left thumbnail to further evidence my Alvey newbie status. When the reel is spinning that fast, it pays not to get anything in the way of the handle. seems obvious, I know, but not so easy when pandemonium erupts and line is ripping off and the 'fish' is unstoppable.

Just to ensure my faith in humanity was dealt a significant blow, I watched as another import stalled out on their way out, couldn't restart their six-figure boat, dropped anchor and waited for someone to come rescue them. You'd think they'd have room in the budget for a VHF but, nope. That would have been too safety conscious. So I went to call in the stricken vessel only to hear someone had beat me to it and for the next three hours at least I watched a good two dozen boats motor passed without stopping to render assistance, including two charter skippers on their way back in. After a few hours I paddled over to them and he said he was waiting for the coastguard to tow them in, but without a radio he was unaware they were on another call that came in around the same time. He was so clueless he then refused the help of the boat I flagged down for him, citing they might damage his boat. Instead, I left him to wait for coastguard to turn up and went back to achieving nothing good with my fishing while even more muppets, this time locals, decided it was a great idea to drive their boat around me multiple times looking for baitfish. Having reached my idjit quota for the day and in fear i was going to lose the plot and start yelling like a madman at the next thing that came anywhere near me, I gave up and paddled in.

I am getting royally sick of the few, scarce good weather days being on long weekends. On the way back in I daydreamed of dropping a few trees over the multiple roads into this place, if the weather is looking good for a fish next weekend.

*edit 2* Once more unto the breach. This time, there were kahawai (Aus salmon), an 8lb snapper, and a shark (estimated 1.5m - it bit me off after about 10minutes but felt about that). Still no kingi, but at least no idiots this time around. Interestingly, the reel has plenty of power, more than I'm used to. There's almost no need to pump and wind, just wind. Old habits die hard but I'm getting the hang of it. Makes for a much smoother fight. Even on the shark fight, which was up to their usual unpredictable tricks, I felt like I was getting into the groove of going from palming to winding reasonably seamlessly. Also, am really happy with the PVC tube star drag extension. Works superbly. Bring on the hoodlum, I think I'm ready for it now.

*edit 3* So close! Got out yesterday, livie got smashed (so hard it popped like an over-ripe tomato, the poor thing) but the hoodlum dropped it almost immediately. AntiSlammer's freespool is so smooth I thought I could do away with the drop-back clip but won't make that mistake again.

The reels (a direct wind and the other a bit more fancy) from Alvey are finally in the post. Am leaning towards the simpler direct wind as anything else just feels like cheating, but time will tell. Have also come to realise I don't need drag, except enough to hold a fish yak-side for gaffing. The drop-back clip holds a trolled livie, and the reel stays in freespool, which means I'm not winding against the drag on the direct-wind reel. This also means the PVC extension isn't really needed, which is just as well because a kahawhai knocked it out of the yak and I learned solid PVC doesn't float ;-).

*edit 4* This is turning into quite the OCD novel. Dear diary (hahahaha) today my new Alvey reels arrived from Aus. As suspected, I prefer the cheaper, direct-wind 40GDZ model. Like me it's ridiculously simple (some might say simply ridiculous) so hopefully fewer things to go wrong. First impression was I had succumbed to the curse of internet shopping - it is tiny and seemed much bigger online. But, if I wanted a fun test of my fishing skills and to put the sport back into sport fishing, this lil' reel is it. To land a kingi on this reel is going to be some achievement. :-)

*edit 5* Dear diary, got out yesterday morning, still chasing the elusive Alvey kingfish. Couldn't find a suitably sized livebait so dragged a mammoth kahawai around for a few hours until Noah bit. It all but parked after just the first short run. It was a huge weight and just wasn't even bothered enough to seriously fight. It would take a few meters and allow me to get back just those few meters. I've lifted a 2.5m great white from 50m down on a rod half as strong as the one I was using, but there was no way I could lift this beast any closer than 10m from the kayak. It had serious weight on its side.

After about 20 minutes of stalemate I started to realise (hey, I'm a slow thinker and even slower learner) maybe I don't want to even see this thing or persuade it to come up at the kayak or for it to finally wake up and put up a real fight. It's certainly the biggest thing I've been hooked to for a long while. I prepared for the inevitable bust-off, gave it the requisite curry and my 40lb braid broke at what I think was just above the FG knot. So, another 'no kingis were harmed in the making of this episode', yet the Alvey has certainly proven itself as capable on some very big fish.

Whilst full of learnings that will pay dividends come Summer, this has been a cruel Winter with month after month of 'nothing worth keeping'. It does however seem like the fishing is just starting to turn and activity picking up. Huge schools of kahawai out there lately and I've seen quite a few dolphins (paddled out with a few the other day) and seals. In moments of weakness I have considered targeting snapper or JD's but they can't drag the kayak around or get the heart pumping quite like a kingi.

Oh, and for the record, whilst I like the little Alvey 40GDZ on my bait rod, it has one major weakness. The spring on the sidecast mechanism isn't strong enough and on a good kahawai or the like the spool can spin around and wrap the line around said sidecast mechanism. The trick seems to be to pump and wind that model Alvey so it's not seeing any real winching loads. It's not unusual for me to find the limits of cheap reels but I'm thankful the main limitation on this wee Alvey is me and having learned how to keep it alive while torturing it, one day it'll be put on kingi duty as a serious challenge. If I ever find the darn kingis again. The more I fish with the $20, broken handled direct wind 5" model Alvey, the more I think the best Alvey for me from the kayak is a 5-6" direct wind model, with no real drag and no clicker. Super simple, bullet proof, and lethal in the hands of anyone willing to put in the time to learn the skills needed to really, patiently, work and out-think a fish. I'm not there yet but am certainly progressing in my Alvey apprenticeship.

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Hi just found this place.. anyone have any info/advice Re best setups, bait etc. for Chinamans and Army Bay at all please? Can you catch squid at either? I know snapper, Kahawai and Kingfish can be caught there, just if anyone has some tips and tricks it’d be much appreciated. Cheers!

Another spot that I've tried is Little Manly at low tide. I walk right around towards Arkles Bay, there is a nice ledge there and your away from other anglers... Have caught Kahwai and Snapper. 

Quick update on the alvey crusade. nailed a snapper over 20lb earlier this week (released)and finally after many lost opportunities the alvey got a legal (just) kingi today. It was gut hooked or I would have released it. Nice to open my kingi account for this summer though. A mate a few kms down the coast got his first kingi today too. We were probably fighting our kingis at the same time..

No pics if the snapper, I released it yak-side. But it was a horse. Second biggest moocher I've caught. Just as I got the hook out it thanked me by crushing the hook in its powerful jaws.

Thanks for the Alvey nudge itsaboat. Am having a blast with my ones.

Like them so much I've got one I'm prepping for marlin missions :-)
Bruce Alvey has kindly worked up a special spool just for me. It's on its way.

I switched from ambassador to shimano reels many moons ago - quality and performance up other reels went down. Hats off to them dam Asians! Say your from New Zeland can you do me a small favor - go over to crytopia exchange in new zeland and ask for my 3 bitcoins and numerous other smaller priced coins back. One of there good ole boys and/or girls stoled 16 million out of that (crytopia exchange there). It did a positve note ; When they were pulled to courts in new york it set a precedent that made bitcoin valued as money.
  On a light ur note i burned two of kayaks in half in my backyard and part of a 20' flatbed trailer. Suggestions on what to do with them. I have parts of my totaled out nightrain harley in my pecan tree in my front yard as a reminder. An illegal pulled out in front of me broad side so i had to lay it down. The piece of work drove off and left me stuck under my bike. A positve to a negative (GOD sent) me a redheaded wine O to wave the traffic off me in the middle of the street. We found him later and the Houston police didn't even put him in jail. If i did that to him he would own everyting i have worked for all my life. The houston cop didn't even get out of his new suv. The ambulance driver kept apologizing after the cop told him to go get my drivers license.  Strange times but thats not going to stop me from fishing. Started fishing @ 3 with my grandfather from the farm. 

How do you like the 460, i have a 480 its getting a bit heavy for my old bones on and off the roof

I came off a Viking reload and PF400, the front storage in them was the winner for me.
Not so much of a issue now im based in Central Otago for work, originally from Marsden Point, i am enjoying the lakes and the southern coast is a couple of hours away
500 will fit nicely in the garage not so bothered about scraps and scratches.